Continuity and contrast : a study of English and Italian influences in the Trio Sonatas of Henry Purcell
Date
1989
Authors
Grant, Wendy Lyn
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Abstract
The Sonatas of Three Parts (1683) and the Sonatas of Four Parts (1697) of Henry Purcell are works illustrative of the cosmopolitan atmosphere of late seventeenth-century England. Acknowledged to be Italianate in design and character by the composer himself, the sonatas nonetheless show an interweaving of Italian features with Purcell's heritage of English instrumental writing.
Purcell's fantasias reveal the work of a contrapuntist of the highest rank, and the inventive genius of those works shows him to be a composer of enormous capabilities. In the sonatas, the application of the same kind of contrapuntal technique is greatly in evidence. These works illustrate the degree to which Purcell actually assimilated the grammar and syntax of the Italian trio sonata and reconciled it with the texture and imitative structure of the English fantasia. It may be stated that this in itself is paramount to a critical appreciation of his style, as the outcome of this reconciliation became the very foundation of his musical vocabulary. The degree to which Purcell actually embraced the Italian style -- whether it became a truly integrated part of his vocabulary, or whether he adopted its language merely as a superficial feature to be applied to his art of fantasia -- is approached through a stylistic analysis of the sonatas and an examination of the way each respective manner is manifest in them.
In order to determine the strongest influence on Purcell's trio sonatas, the English heritage of fantasia composition is examined in terms of those stylistic features of which he was the inheritor, which he adopted in his own fantasias and In Nomines. and which he carried into the formation of the trio sonatas. The stylistic features of selected fantasias and In Nomines by Christopher Tye, William Byrd, John Jenkins and Matthew Locke, among others, are discussed. An examination of Purcell's contributions to this genre reveals the foundation of his instrumental style.
Although Purcell did not specify which of the "most fam'd Italian masters" he was emulating in his own sonatas, documentary evidence of the presence of Italian composers and Italian music in England from diaries and manuscripts point to possible influences. An examination of selected trio sonatas of middle and late seventeenth-century Italian composers reveals common techniques of organization and structure in the sonata da chiesa. These devices are examined, and those traits which are relevant to Purcell's trio sonatas are discussed.
An analysis of the techniques and forms of Purcell's trio sonatas shows an interweaving of the stylistic traits of both traditions. The Italianate devices of construction and organization are employed in the context of highly contrapuntal movements which are closely allied to the fantasia style. The concern for the overall organization of each work is particularly shown in Purcell's use of thematic interrelationships between movements in both collections.
Evidence of the fantasia style is most apparent in the Sonatas of Three (1683). Many of the Sonatas of Four Parts (1697), however, show a true assimilation of the Italian style and a conscious moving away from the dense contrapuntal constructions of the fantasia. The employment of looser episodic textures is more frequently found, as is the sense of a more secure employment of Italianate devices. Stylistic examination provides evidence of a difference in focus in the Sonatas of Four Parts (1697), and permits speculation on their chronology.